Columbus Zoo's new python is named for celebrity zookeeper Jack Hanna

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio zoo has settled on a familiar name for the new snake that has replaced her record-breaking mother.

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium says its new reticulated python will be called Hanna -- which happens to be the last name of the zoo's celebrity zookeeper, Jack Hanna.

Hanna the snake was acquired last month from the same private breeder who had sold the zoo her mother, Fluffy. At 24 feet, Fluffy was the longest snake in captivity when she died in October of an apparent tumor.

At 18 feet, Hanna is a little shaver compared to her mom.

The zoo says a name-the-snake contest on Facebook awarded Hanna the most votes -- slightly more than the second-place name, Fuzzy.

Jack Hanna says having a namesake chokes him up.

RELATED REPTILE NEWS:

• Firefighters rescue 18-foot Burmese python from burning Rhode Island home

• Zoo Atlanta to receive inspection following escape of a rattlesnake

-- Associated Press

Photos: (left) Hanna the python in an undated photo. Credit: Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. (Right) Jack Hanna in 2009. Credit: Charles Sykes / Associated Press

Wildlife rehabilitators still hard at work trying to help animal victims of Gulf oil spill

NEW ORLEANS — A baby sea turtle escaped from the jaws of a shark, only to get stuck in oil spilled from BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico. A young dolphin apparently was attacked by his mother, then swam into oil.

The animals are among thousands rescued since more than 200 million gallons of oil began gushing from the Macondo well about 50 miles southeast of the Mississippi River Delta, and among dozens still at Gulf Coast rescue centers five months after the well was capped.

Since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, rescue officials say 2,079 birds, 456 sea turtles, some terrapins and two dolphins have been plucked from the oil.

Another 2,263 birds, 18 turtles and four dolphins were found dead with oil on them. All are being dissected to tell whether it was the crude from the BP well that killed them.

Caring for the animals can be time-consuming and costly, an ongoing legacy of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and identifying whether BP is at fault is a complex matter for those working at the centers.

Your morning adorable: Kitten rides tortoise

We can't help but wonder if this kitten is a regular YouTube viewer.

Is it possible she saw another video that went viral a while back in which Hope, perhaps the world's laziest dog, rides a large tortoise named Carl? Did that inspire her actions in the video above? Or could she have come to her tiny-tortoise-riding conclusion all on her own?

It'll have to remain a mystery, we suppose. And whatever this cute kitty's motivations may be -- to say nothing of the motivations of the patient tortoise that puts up with this whole silly business -- we get a deep enjoyment out of watching the resulting video.

And, of course, a little Henry Mancini never hurt anything.

RELATED CUTE KITTEN VIDEOS:
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-- Lindsay Barnett

Critics say Obama administration is lagging on protecting endangered species

WASHINGTON — Environmental groups are criticizing the Obama administration for what they say is a continuing backlog of plants and animals in need of protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The Fish and Wildlife Service says 251 species are candidates for endangered species protection, four more than a similar review last year found.

Environmental groups say that shows the Obama administration has done little to improve on what they consider a dismal record on endangered species under President George W. Bush.

Nearly two years after taking office, Obama has provided Endangered Species Act protection to 51 plants and animals, an average of 25 a year. By comparison, the Clinton administration protected an average of 65 species per year, and the Bush administration listed about eight species a year.

"Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration is failing to provide prompt protection to wildlife desperately in need of protection," including the plains bison, sage grouse and hundreds of other species, said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based group that has filed lawsuits seeking greater protection for those and other species.

Trio of previously unknown amphibian species discovered on Colombian frog-finding expedition

Scientists' search for a toad that hasn't been seen since the early part of the 20th century was unsuccessful but turned out to be fruitful anyway.

Researchers looking for the elusive Mesopotamia beaked toad -- the last documented sighting of which was in Colombia in 1914 -- didn't find what they were looking for, but they did discover two toad species and a frog species that they believe are entirely new to science.

The "new" species include a beaked toad in the genus Rhinella, above left; a red-eyed toad of an as-yet-undetermined genus, center; and rocket frog of the genus Silverstoneia, right.

The expedition to find the Mesopotamia beaked toad in Colombia is part of a larger effort called the Search for the Lost Frogs Campaign, spearheaded by Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which continues through the end of this year.

In addition to finding the previously unknown species, the Lost Frogs campaign has also been responsible for finding three of the "lost" species it initially set out to find. They include the cave splayfoot salamander, a pink-footed amphibian that hadn't been seen since 1941, in Mexico; the Mount Nimba reed frog, the last reported sighting of which was in 1967, in the Ivory Coast; and the Omaniundu reed frog, last seen in 1979, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

See more photos of the "new" species after the jump.

All in the family: Columbus Zoo's new Burmese python is daughter of late Guinness record-holder Fluffy

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio zoo says a new resident has big snakeskin shoes to fill.

Weeks after announcing the death of the longest snake in captivity, the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium said Wednesday it had acquired the python's smaller daughter.

Fluffy, 24 feet and 18 years old, died Oct. 27 of an apparent tumor. The zoo's new snake is 12 years old and 6 feet shorter than her mother.

The zoo said in a statement that the daughter arrived Tuesday from the same private breeder who sold Fluffy to the zoo in 2007.

Fluffy was about the length of a moving van and had held the Guinness World Record as the longest snake living in captivity. She drew large crowds.

The zoo says it plans to ask the public to help name the new snake.

RELATED REPTILE NEWS:
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Firefighters rescue 18-foot Burmese python from burning Rhode Island home

-- Associated Press

Photo: The Columbus Zoo's new, as-yet-unnamed python. Credit: Associated Press

New report offers grim news on extinction threats facing Earth's vertebrate animal species

One-fifth of the earth's vertebrate species are at risk of extinction, according to new research published online this week in the journal Science.

But study coauthor Neil A. Cox, of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Conservation International, noted that despite that staggering statistic, there is some good news on the biodiversity front as well. "We've had some successes," Cox said. "Without conservation [efforts] in place, extinctions would be much worse than they currently are."

Times reporter Eryn Brown offers further details from the new report:

Amphibians are the most endangered, with 30% of species threatened. Of mammals, reptiles and fish, 21% are threatened, as are 12% of birds. On average, 52 species of mammals, birds and amphibians move one category closer to extinction each year, the paper said. ...

The update includes the Red List's first survey of conservation successes, Cox said. Sixty-eight species -- mostly mammals and birds -- improved in status, all but four because of conservation efforts such as hunting restrictions and controlling invasive species. Among these: the humpback whale, whose numbers have increased since the introduction of restrictions on whaling, and the California condor, which has rebounded somewhat through a captive breeding and reintroduction program.

The findings were released as politicians from around the world gathered in Nagoya, Japan, for the United Nations' 10th Convention on Biological Diversity to set conservation goals for 2020.

Learn more about the findings of the new report in Brown's recent story in The Times.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: Officials are seated before the opening session of the high-level segment of the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) in Nagoya, Japan, on Wednesday. Credit: Yuriko Nakao / Reuters

R.I.P. Fluffy: Guinness record-holding reticulated python, 24 feet long, dies at Columbus Zoo

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio zoo said the longest snake living in captivity has died. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium said workers found the 24-foot python Wednesday morning dead from an apparent tumor. The snake, named Fluffy, held the Guinness World Record as the longest snake living in captivity. It was about as long as a moving van and as thick as a telephone pole. It weighed 300 pounds.

The 18-year-old reticulated python had drawn large crowds since the zoo got it in 2007.

Reticulated pythons are named for the cross-hatching patterns on their skin and average 10 to 20 feet long. The largest recorded one was 32 feet, 9 1/2 inches long when it was killed in 1912 in Indonesia.

RELATED REPTILE NEWS:
Firefighters rescue 18-foot Burmese python from burning Rhode Island home
Zoo Atlanta to receive inspection following escape of a rattlesnake

-- Associated Press

Photo: Fluffy poses with 10 members of the Columbus Zoo's staff to show her size in a 2010 photo. Credit: Columbus Zoo / Associated Press

Thai police seize illegally collected reptiles, pangolins in raid on wildlife smugglers' warehouse

BANGKOK — Thai police on Friday raided a warehouse where wildlife smugglers were storing thousands of illegally collected animals for shipment overseas, a conservation group said.

Police seized various snakes, turtles, tortoises and pangolins from the warehouse in the central province of Ayutthaya and arrested its owner, the Thailand-based Freeland Foundation said.

They included species protected under international agreements and Thai law.

The warehouse was run by a criminal syndicate that was shipping at least 1.2 tons of wildlife out of Thailand every week to consumer countries, it said. Several secret holding facilities are believed to exist, it said.

Southeast Asia supplies illegally traded wildlife to a global market estimated to be worth $10 billion to $30 billion annually, Freeland said in a statement.

It said the illegal trade to meet demand in China and Vietnam for freshwater turtles, tortoises, snakes and pangolins threatens their survival in the wild.

Denver Zoo welcomes baby Komodo dragons

DENVER — The Denver Zoo says it's become the only zoo in the world to hatch endangered Komodo dragons for a third time.

The zoo said Thursday that in its latest feat, four dragons have hatched and four are still in the incubator.

Denver Zoo Curator of Reptiles and Fishes Rick Haeffner says the zoo is only the second one in North America to hatch the dragons this year.

The four should be on display in the nursery soon.

Komodo dragons are the world's largest species of lizard and can grow to be 10 feet long and more than 250 pounds. They have a vicious bite and have about 60 razor-sharp, serrated teeth up to 1 inch long.

Between 3,000 and 5,000 Komodo dragons are left in the wild.

RELATED REPTILE CONSERVATION NEWS:
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-- Associated Press

Photo: A young Komodo dragon is held by a keeper at the Denver Zoo on Oct. 14. Credit: Dave Parsons / Associated Press